What happens during your search?

A search is based on terms. If you enter OCTAVIO PAZ and SOR JUANA, HLAS Online will look for records containing these words.

Records are ranked according to their content. Documents that contain more of the search terms get a higher ranking and appear at the beginning of the results list. A record containing the terms OCTAVIO PAZ and SOR JUANA will be more highly ranked than a record containing only OCTAVIO PAZ or SOR JUANA or OCTAVIO or PAZ, etc.

Records in which the search terms are near each other also get a higher ranking.

Common words are not considered in the search (AND, NOT, THE, EL, OS, etc.).

Composing a search:

Enter your first search quickly and examine the results. You may find what you want with the least effort this way.

Use either capital or lowercase letters. Case does not affect the results of your search.

Do not use accents or any punctuation marks.

You may use words like AND or THE, but they will not be considered in the search.

Enter the words in the order in which they would most likely appear in the text. The order of the terms does not affect which records appear in the search results, but it does determine which records will display first (relevancy ranking).

want to do a search in which recall (quantity of retrieved records) is more important than precision (relevance of retrieved records). In other words, you want to conduct an exhaustive search, rather than a highly specific one.

want to combine two or more fields in the same search (i.e. author and title, title or subject, etc).

want to search using Annotations, Contributing Editor's Name, or Alphanumeric Codes -- special fields which are not available on the BASIC SEARCH Page.

want to do a search in which precision (relevance retrieved records) is more important than recall (quantity of retrieved records). In other words, you want to conduct a highly specific search, rather than an exhaustive one.

In BASIC SEARCH you can search only one field at a time. To search two or more fields at the same time, use the EXPERT SEARCH Page.

Basic Search Steps:

Select a field to search (keyword, author, title, or subject).

Enter as many search words as you wish in the search box.

Determine the maximum number of items to be returned in the results list. Accept the default value of 100 or enter any number between 1 and 5000.

Click on the SEARCH button.

Basic Search Results:

The results list will be divided into four groups according to how closely the records match your search request. The first group will contain the records most relevant to your search; the fourth group will contain the least relevant records.

Basic Searching Tip:

The EXPERT SEARCH Page allows you to search more than one field at a time. To search only one field at a time and get a results list of records arranged in order of relevance, use the BASIC SEARCH Page. If you do not know in which fields your search words are likely to occur, we suggest using the BASIC SEARCH Page's KEYWORD search option.

Expert Search Steps:

Enter your search word(s) in one or more of the fielded search boxes (subject, author, title, annotation/chapter introduction).

Click on YES or NO to indicate whether search words are required or not.

"YES" requires the search words in that box to be present in that field in each record.

"NO" indicates that the search words in that particular field box are optional. However, records containing most of the search words in that field will appear toward the top of your hits list.

For example, if you choose subject: SOR JUANA and author: OCTAVIO PAZ and you want them both to appear in the indicated field in every record, you must choose the Required: YES option for both fields. If you are looking specifically for items about SOR JUANA and out of curiosity you want to know if OCTAVIO PAZ wrote anything on the subject, choose Required: YES for the subject field and Required: NO for the author field (see example above).

Determine the maximum number of items to be returned. Either accept the default value of 100 or enter a number between 1 and 5000.

Click on the SEARCH button.

Expert Search Results:

You will see a list of results arranged in order of relevance to your search.

What is the KEYWORD SEARCH?

The KEYWORD SEARCH examines all the fields of a record at the same time: Bibliographic Citation (author, title, and publication information), Annotation, Subject Headings, Related Names, HLAS item number, and special fields such as monographic series title (volume 50 forward).

How do I use the KEYWORD SEARCH?

On the BASIC SEARCH Page, choose the KEYWORD option.

Enter your desired search word(s) in the box and click the "Search" button. Capitalization does not affect the search results, but you should not use accents or punctuation symbols.

In the BASIC SEARCH, HLAS Online will produce a list of records arranged according to how closely they match the search request. The first three categories include records in which every search word appears somewhere in the record: same words, adjacent to each other in the requested order; same words near each other; same words not near each other. The fourth category lists all the records that have at least one of the searched words, but not all of them.

What parts of a record can only be searched using the KEYWORD option?

Place and date of publication (volumes 1-49) and name of publisher (all volumes).

Physical description of the book

Most journal titles, in abbreviated form (Consult the Searching by Journal Titles help page for more information on searching by journal abbreviations).

Titles of monographic series (volume 50 forward)

HLAS item numbers

How can I do a more precise search?

Replace the most general concepts with more specific ones. For example, replace ECONOMICS with TRADE, LITERATURE with POETRY, etc.

Use the HLAS Volume/Year option to limit the number of years searched.

When the full record is displayed on the screen, you can click on one of the highlighted subject headings to search for other records that have those same word(s) in the SUBJECT field.

An author is the person, institution, or conference responsible for creating a work. Most HLAS records were written by one or more authors, and their names are searchable using the AUTHOR field. Names of other people involved in preparing a work (i.e., editors, compilers, collaborators, translators, photographers, etc.) are listed after the title, and are searchable in the TITLE field. Since volume 50 the most important of these RELATED NAMES (i.e., editors, compilers, collaborators) are also searchable in the AUTHOR field. (See the HLAS Database Field Structure help page for more information.)

How do I search the database using author names?

Enter in the AUTHOR box the name(s) (or partial name(s)) of the person, corporation or conference you wish to search and click the SEARCH button. The system will look for those words in the AUTHOR and RELATED NAMES fields only.

BASIC SEARCH example: If you enter garcia marquez in the AUTHOR box of the BASIC SEARCH Page, you will retrieve all the records containing "garcia" and "marquez" in the AUTHOR and/or RELATED NAMES fields, followed by those records containing either "garcia" or "marquez" in those fields (ranked according to predicted relevance to your search).

In EXPERT SEARCH, you can achieve the same results by entering garcia marquez in the AUTHOR box and selecting Required: NO.

In the EXPERT SEARCH you can also retrieve items containing each and every word you input in the AUTHOR box. For example, enter garcia marquez in the EXPERT SEARCH Page's AUTHOR box, and select Required: YES. You will retrieve only those items that have the words "garcia" and "marquez" in the author and/or related names fields.

Corporate and conference authors are normally entered in their native languages. However, in order to avoid missing records, you may want to search those names in all appropriate languages. For example, if you want to search congreso internacional de americanistas, you should also search international congress of americanists.

Names of corporate authors may or may not be preceded by the name of the country to which they belong. A corporate author's name may be written using its abbreviated form or its full form, or both. In these cases, you should search all possible variants (i.e., INCAP as well as instituto de nutricion de centro america y panama) separately.

When searching for corporate names you should use the BASIC SEARCH Page (or select Required: NO from the EXPERT SEARCH Page's author box).

You can search the TITLE field using BASIC SEARCH and EXPERT SEARCH. Enter a complete title or partial title in order to retrieve the desired record. You may need to use the TITLE option to search for names of persons other than authors who helped prepare a work for publication (i.e., editors, compilers, translators, collaborators, illustrators, and so forth).

How do I search using title words?

On the BASIC SEARCH Page, click on the TITLE button, then enter the word(s) you wish to search in the text box. Capitalization does not matter for the search results, but do not use accents or other punctuation symbols.

On the EXPERT SEARCH Page, the search procedure is basically the same. If you choose the Required: YES option, your results list will include only records in which all the words you typed in the TITLE box appear in the title field of each record, combined with whatever other search criteria you entered. However, if you want to give more importance to the search words in other boxes, you should choose the Required: NO option. In this case, records containing the title terms you entered will appear toward the top of the results list, but the list will also include records lacking those TITLE terms, yet meeting other search criteria.

Title Searching Tips:

Enter the complete title in order to retrieve the exact record.

Words related to a work's main subject frequently appear in its title. To find works related to your area of interest, enter a few key words in the title box. Use BASIC SEARCH's title search, or the EXPERT SEARCH's Title search with Required: NO selected.

If you use BASIC SEARCH, HLAS Online will produce a list of records divided into four categories with the most relevant records at the top of the list. The first three categories will contain records in which the searched words appear (exact words with the same order, exact words near each other, and all the words somewhere in the record). The fourth category lists all records containing at least one of the searched words.

Enter title words in one language only since it is rare for titles to include more than one language. If, for example, you enter "carnival" and "carnaval" in the title box, HLAS Online will look for titles that have both of those words. Instead, do separate searches for different languages, or use the Required: NO option on the EXPERT SEARCH Page.

The SUBJECT field is included in more than 75% of all HLAS Online records.You can do subject searches using BASIC and EXPERT SEARCH. Be aware that for the first 49 volumes, subject headings vary greatly. Since volume 50, effort has been made to use a standardized list of subject headings. You can browse the HLAS Subject Headings Glossary to find terms used to describe records from volume 50 onward.

How were the subject headings created?

The first 15 volumes of the printed HLAS lacked a subject index. To provide some subject access to the electronic versions of these volumes, rudimentary subject headings based on each volume's Table of Contents were created. Consequently, the subject headings used in v. 1-15 are very general (i.e.: Economics--Argentina).

For vols. 16-49, the subject headings are progressively more specific.

For volume 50 onward, as changes are made to the HLAS Subject Term Glossary, online records are also updated to reflect these changes. For these volumes, most book records also include Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) in addition to the HLAS subject headings.

Some records do not include subject terms. The majority of these are: 1) original literary works; 2) journal articles from vols. 50-54 which were not included in the print edition; or 3) journal articles from vols. 55-58 which have not yet been assigned subject terms by the HLAS editorial team.

How do I search using subjects terms?

On the BASIC SEARCH Page, choose the SUBJECT option by clicking on it. Enter in the appropriate box the subject word(s) you wish to search. Word order and capitalization are not important. Do not use accents or punctuation marks.

Your search will find all the records that contain your search words in the SUBJECT field. The search results are divided into four categories according to how closely words in the records match words entered in the search box.

On the EXPERT SEARCH Page, the search procedure is similar, except that there is a separate box for entering subject words.

If you choose the Required: YES option, your results will include only records in which all the words you typed in the SUBJECT box appear in the subject field of each record combined with whatever other search criteria you entered. However, if you want to give more importance to the search words in other boxes, you should choose the Required: NO option. In this case, records containing the subject terms you entered will appear toward the top of the results list, and the list will also include records lacking those subject terms, yet meeting other search criteria.

When the full record is displayed on the screen, you can click on one of the highlighted subject headings to search for other records that have those same word(s) in the SUBJECT field.

For volume 50 onward, you may search broad subject categories by discipline and country using the Handbook'sTables of Contents Page.

Which language is used in the SUBJECT TERMS?

Topical subject terms have been entered primarily in English, followed by one or more geographical or topical subheading(s) (e.g., "Church-State Relations--Mexico").

Corporate subjects are generally listed in the language of the country in which the corporation is based (e.g., Partido dos Trabalhadores). For international organizations, we suggest searching several variants (e.g., "Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean," "ECLAC," "CEPAL," "Comisión Económica para América Latina").

From volume 50 onward, subnational geographic place names are generally entered in the vernacular (e.g., La Habana), but names of countries and supranational regions are most often spelled in English (e.g., Brazil, Amazon Basin, Andean Region, Caribbean Area). Nonetheless, due to changes in HLAS editorial policy over the years, you should try searching in all appropriate languages, one language at a time.

Subject Searching Tip:

It is best to search in only one language at a time since the same concept is rarely listed in more than one language in any given record. Or, using the Subject search box on the EXPERT SEARCH Page, enter the term in different languages, and choose the Required: NO option. The results list will include records that contain at least one of the search terms. (The same results are obtained using the BASIC SEARCH Page's Subject option.)
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What is an ANNOTATION?

An annotation is a commentary on and/or evaluation of the work cited. The annotations have been prepared by the Handbook's contributing editors, recognized specialists in their fields. Only those records selected for inclusion in the Handbook print edition contain annotations. Be aware that HLAS Online also includes records for future volumes which have not been annotated yet.

In what languages are the ANNOTATIONS written?

Most of the annotations are written in English. However, records dealing with Philosophy and about half of the records focusing on Spanish American Literature are prepared in Spanish. In the early volumes, annotations for some of the chapters on Brazil were prepared in Portuguese.

Who writes the ANNOTATIONS?

Most of the Handbook's contributing editors are university professors or specialists at international organizations such as the World Bank. The majority are based in the US, although foreign corresponding editors generally reside in the country for which they offer special coverage (e.g., Holland, Japan, China, Poland, etc.)

The names of the HLAS contributing editors who wrote the annotations frequently appear in brackets (either abbreviated or in full) at the end of the annotation.

What is a CHAPTER INTRODUCTION?

Each contributing editor writes an introductory essay to his/her chapter in the Handbook print edition. This essay provides an overview of works published and highlights important research trends for a particular field. Essays originally written for volumes 1-49 have been included in HLAS Online. They are indicated in the results list by the word "ESSAY:" preceding the contributing editor's surname.

How do I search for ANNOTATIONS and/or CHAPTER INTRODUCTIONS?

To search exclusively for ANNOTATIONS and CHAPTER INTRODUCTIONS, use the EXPERT SEARCH Page. Enter the terms you want to find in the appropriate box. You may use upper or lowercase letters, but do not use punctuation symbols or accents.

If you choose the Required: YES option, the system will only retrieve those records in which all the words you entered in the Annotation/Chapter Introduction search box appeared.

If you choose the Required: NO option, the system will retrieve a list of records that contain all, some, or none of the words you entered in this box, with records ranked according to your combined search criteria. (However, records containing most of the search terms you typed in this box should appear towards the top of your list.)

To search all the fields of a record including ANNOTATIONS and CHAPTER INTRODUCTIONS, use the KEYWORD search option on the BASIC SEARCH Page.

Be aware that annotations may be written in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, and should be searched accordingly.

About JOURNAL ABBREVIATIONS and Acronyms

Since the beginning of the Handbook publication in 1936, the titles of the journals have been abbreviated in various different ways. For volumes 1 to 49, most of the bibliographic citations which refer to journal articles include the complete JOURNAL TITLE immediately following the abbreviated title of the journal (e.g., "LARR [Latin American Research Review]"). In cases where the complete journal title is not
included in citations, consult the Journal Abbreviations List for Volumes 1-49, or consult the journal abbreviation list in the print edition of that volume of HLAS.

Searching the database by a JOURNAL'S Abbreviation

If you wish to search for journal articles from a particular journal, look up the abbreviation (or abbreviations, if it has been abbreviated in various ways over the years) and enter it into the BASIC SEARCH Page's Keyword box (not the Title box).

What is the ITEM NUMBER?

The item number is an alphanumeric number assigned to every item included in HLAS Online. It provides a unique identification number for each record. The item numbers were created in two different ways.

For volumes 1 to 49, the item numbers are derived from the sequential item numbers in the print version, as follows:

reXXZZZZ or reXXa

re indicates a retrospective record (volumes published before 1990).

XX is a two-digit number corresponding to the year the print version was published.

ZZZZ is a number up to four digits long corresponding to the sequential item number in the print edition.

a is a letter assigned sequentially to each of the online essays from volumes 1-49 to identify and order the introductory essays. Note that essays in the print edition are not numbered.

For example, item 2222 from the print version of volume 1 (published in 1936), would have the following item number in the HLAS Online database: re362222.

For volumes 50 to the present, the item number is assigned by the Library of Congress. Notice that these ITEM NUMBERS do not match the sequential item numbers found in the print editions. If you consult the same bibligraphic citation in the HLAS Online database and in the print version, the two numbers will be different. The HLAS Online item numbers for volume 50 to present are formed as follows:

bi[space]XXZZZZZZ

bi indicates the bibliographic record was produced electronically, and appeared in volume published in or after 1990.

[space] means that a space exists between the bi and the number. (This is very important when you search the database using this type of item number.)

XX is a two-digit number corresponding to the year the record was entered into the system.

ZZZZZZ is a six-digit number corresponding to the computer-generated control number.

Example: bi 95004444

How to search the database for an ITEM NUMBER

On the BASIC SEARCH Page, select the KEYWORD option and enter the item number in the box. Click the "Search" button and the system will bring up the identified record. For volumes 50 to the present, notice that there is a space between the prefix bi and the actual number.

The print edition of the Handbook alternates yearly between the humanities and social sciences. Each volume is divided into different disciplines such as art, literature, economics, etc. Each discipline is further subdivided by region, country, or time period. A contributing editor specializing in the particular discipline and country (or region) is assigned to write annotations for one or more of the subsections.

What do the Alphanumeric Codes mean?

Each of the subsections has a unique ALPHANUMERIC CODE. For example, Mesoamerican Ethnohistory is HLB3000. From volume 50 onward, each record selected for the print edition has been assigned an alphanumeric code based on the subject matter of the work cited in the record.

How do I search using this field?

Enter your selection in the last search box on the EXPERT SEARCH Page. There are two ways to search this field: using the contributing editor's surname or using a chapter's alphanumeric code.

If you do not know the specific code or the contributing editor's last name, you can go to the Current Tables of Contents Page. You will see a complete list of all the codes divided by volume. Simply click on the code that you wish to search for a list of records corresponding to that subsection in that volume.

If you know the specific code or the surname of the contributing editor responsible for the subsection, go to the bottom of the EXPERT SEARCH Page and enter the code or name which you wish to search in the box. Click the "Search" button. The system will retrieve all records containing the code or name that you entered. Note that contributing editors responsible for a given section change frequently, so consult the Current Tables of Contents Page for up-to-date information.

When would I want to search using this field?

If you want to find the most recent works published in a particular field, this is the perfect tool.

Find the code included in the most recent volume and click on it. This will retrieve all the annotated bibliographic references on your desired topic.

Or, if you wish to see all the most recent records (whether or not selected and annotated by the contributing editor), go to the EXPERT SEARCH's field and type in the surname(s) of the contributing editor who prepared the section, being sure to include the volume number range you wish to search. This type of search is particularly effective for finding the most recent journal articles, even before they are annotated for the print edition.

Searching Tips:

Use the contributing editor's name to conduct a broad search across several countries or time periods covered by the same contributor, or when you want to see items not included in the print edition (only items selected for the print edition are normally assigned alphanumeric codes).

Volumes 1-49 are not searchable in this fashion since those records do not include this field. Nonetheless, the annotations for some of the earlier volumes conclude with a contributing editor's name or initials. If you wish to search for a contributor's name in volumes 1-49, enter it in the EXPERT SEARCH Page's ANNOTATION box instead.

Records included in the database contain some or all of the following fields (see example below):

Citation = Author + Title + Description

"Author" corresponds to the principal author(s) responsible for the intellectual content of the work. The author may be a person, institution, or conference.

"Title" corresponds to the main title and subtitle(s) of a work as well as names of additional persons (other than the authors) who assisted in preparing the work (editors, compilers, translators, collaborators, photographers, etc.)

"Description" corresponds to publication information (for books: place of publication, name of publisher or distributor, publication date, number of pages, monographic series information, etc.; for journal articles: journal title abbreviation, volume and issue number, date, page numbers, etc.)

Annotation = Commentary on and/or evaluation of the work annotated. In general, only records selected for inclusion in the print edition of the Handbook are annotated.

Subject = Subject headings from the HLAS Subject Headings Glossary and/or the Library of Congress Subject Headings that describe the content of the work. Seventy-five percent of HLAS Online records include subject terms.

Related Names = Names of co-authors, editors, compilers, translators, collaborators, photographers, etc. (This field is found only in records from vol. 50 onward).

LC Call Number = The Library of Congress Call Number is included for most of the book records from vol. 50 onward.

Bibl. Info. = Complementary information about the record such as page numbers for the book's bibliography, index, maps, etc. (this field is found only in book records from vol. 50 onward).

HLAS Volume = The print edition's volume number.

HLAS Item Number = A number that corresponds either to the item number from the print volume (volumes 1 to 49) or to the item's control number according to the Library of Congress database (volumes 50 onward).

HLAS Editor/Code = Last name of contributing editor to whom the Handbook staff sent a work for possible review, plus a special alphanumeric code allowing users to search the database by broad subject categories (i.e., by discipline/country breakdown). This field is found only in records from vol. 50 onward.